World's slowest custom 85g system. ...and there was coral. (p.18)

[FlowerMama]

OMG. it's about time. ha ha I've been a faithful watcher here so I'm ready to see the beginnings of this show.

[Rollermonkey]

...and this way, I can put the update at the top of the page instead of the bottom.

 

I dip complicated:

Start by floating all the bags, in a large, heated rubbermaid container, and removing the outer-most bag from each coral or frag, and then around the rest, removing one bag at a time until everything is in it's inner-most bag only. (Some of these things were inside 5 bags!)

 

Then:

15 minute bath in Two Little Fishies Revive / salt water

15 minute recovery in fresh salt water

15 minute bath in Reef Pest Solutions / salt water

15 minute recovery in separate fresh salt water

15 minute freshRODI water dip

Extended recovery in the original container (which never got any store water in it) with SeaChem Stress Guard. (This is new for me, it was in the box, so I used it.)

 

My containers aren't very big, so I had to run three batches in sequence, hence the two-hour event time.

[FlowerMama]

...and this way, I can put the update at the top of the page instead of the bottom.

 

I dip complicated:

Start by floating all the bags, in a large, heated rubbermaid container, and removing the outer-most bag from each coral or frag, and then around the rest, removing one bag at a time until everything is in it's inner-most bag only. (Some of these things were inside 5 bags!)

 

Then:

15 minute bath in Two Little Fishies Revive / salt water

15 minute recovery in fresh salt water

15 minute bath in Reef Pest Solutions / salt water

15 minute recovery in separate fresh water

15 minute fresh water dip

Extended recovery in the original container (which never got any store water in it) with SeaChem Stress Guard. (This is new for me, it was in the box, so I used it.)

 

My containers aren't very big, so I had to run three batches in sequence, hence the two-hour event time.

 

and meanwhile, while the seasons change.....ha ha ha. You're being very cautious which is admirable.

[Rollermonkey]

Sorry about the lighting on some of these...

 

Blenny is very protective of her food. She's practically wearing it like a serape.

 

 

For each, I'm posting one immediately post-dip and one after an hour in the DT.

 

Frag #1 purple montipora capricornis

 

(This had been sharing a frag with a green monti cap, but it came off the plug)

 

 

Frag #2 green montipora capricornis (bonus frag)

 

(this was the frag that had the purple on it)

 

 

Frag #3 "wow toxic" psamacorra sp

 

 

 

Frag #4 'blue eyes' trumpet (Caulastrea sp.)

 

 

 

Frag #5 'appleberry' montipora capitata

 

 

(on the right)

 

Frag #6 unknown zoanthid (probably miami vice)

 

 

on the right and still VERY pissed off...

 

Frag #7 unknown zoanthid (bonus frag)

 

 

(This is in the picture just above, on the left. No other zoas in this order.)

 

Frag #8 turquoise discomas mushroom

 

(Not sure why no frag plug / frag prison...)

 

I just deposited it inside a small hole and I'm hoping it stays put... Couldn't really get a picture.

 

Frag #9 'sea dreams' (?) ricordea mushroom (I think, this ID and #10 may be backwards)

 

 

 

Frag #10 ricordea mushroom (bonus frag)

 

 

(foreground)

 

Frag #11 duncans

 

 

(on the left)

 

Frag #12 'caribbean dream' leptastrea

 

 

(foreground)

 

Frag #13 'birds of paradise' birdsnest

 

 

(background)

 

Frag #14 'mystic sapphire' favia

 

 

 

Frag #15 'rainbow delight' chalice

 

 

 

Frag #16 'fiery' digitata

 

 

...or is it a penis coral?

 

Coral #17 pink fungia plate coral

 

 

 

Coral #18 purple rim fungia plate coral

 

 

 

Oh, and a bottle of tigger pods and another pound-ish of chaeto.

 

I think that's everything.

 

Oh. New FTS, right?

 

 

Bam.

 

Probably nothing to update for a while, apart from when/if some of the corals open up better.

 

The next steps are to finish the blenny QT, move the blue assessor and helfrichi firefish from the 'cube, before I can get the Red Velvet Fairy Wrasse pair delivered.

 

But progress is progress.

 

...and here's hoping I didn't kill everything with my draconian dip regimen.

[FlowerMama]

Lots of corals! Nice selection. You just can't go wrong w/ greens, purples, reds.

[Rollermonkey]

Actually, only the rainbow delight chalice is red. I aim for blue, aqua, purple, pink and green. The fiery digitata should be orange, but everything else should be one of those five colors, IIRC.

 

I thought something had stung me, shortly before I finished, but now I see it's a shallow cut... Hopefully it doesn't become a problem.

 

Oh, and I'm definitely glad I did the triple-dip. There was stuff that had fallen off in all three dip containers. A lot in the first one, a little less in the second and only a little in the fresh water, but still. It just goes to show that a single dip in anything isn't enough to remove all pests/hitchhikers from a frag.

[Rollermonkey]

Somebody said they wanted to see when I put the sight glass on my mixing station... OK. Here it is:

 

Simple, really. Bulkhead, elbow and clear PVC pipe (from the LFS).

 

 

As I mentioned previously, finding something that floats, and was small enough to fit in the pipe, but not so small that it could pass through the elbow was tricky. After some google-fu, I found a plastic worm gear that meets those criteria.

 

When the tank is empty, the float sits here:

 

 

...and after making about 5 or 6 gallons, it has floated up this far:

 

 

 

 

[ElmoC]

That was me asking. I was just getting ready to ask how it went. Looks just how I pictured it would work. Thanks for the update.

[Rollermonkey]

Finally energized the skimmer and biopellet reactor.

 

I fired up the GFO/carbon reactor, but the sponges didn't stay in place and media was blowing through the sponges... Both are problems I need to sort out with the builder.

[Rollermonkey]

I finally got everything plugged in, (since the Apex is still on the cube, I've been struggling with running wires) and I fired up the skimmer.

 

How's this for 24 hours?

 

http://s179.photobucket.com/user/rollermonkey/media/86509D9C-244A-480D-B504-8282A0699BAC_zpsxz9e0dum.jpg.html'>

 

[ElmoC]

Finishing up my water station using yours as a model. Because I live in an apartment, didn't have the luxury of hiding it in the garage. I had meant to ask you this earlier, but what did you use for your hose from the pump to the tank?

[Rollermonkey]

Hey, there. I'm using a 1/2" PVC tubing... It's not pipe, or even flex-PVC, but more like the tubing for the RODI, scaled up. It uses a John Guest fitting, and that screws right into a standard 1/2" PVC pipe fitting. I got all of it at Lowe's.

[ElmoC]

Seems like that would be pretty stiff and hard to use. Will swing by the store and take a look. Thanks.

[Rollermonkey]

It's not too bad. It's keeping it's shape a bit better than I expected, but it works pretty well.

 

In other news, both plates are now the center of a cyanobacterial breakout. From that RG shipment, none of the sps have survived, nor did the duncans. The ricordeas wandered off of the frags they were on, and I haven't seen either in a week. The zoas that were a bonus frag vanished, possibly eaten by the strawberry crab?

 

It's probably all new tank syndrome, but I'm starting to hate coral.

[Rollermonkey]

I guess I just decided on my tank's showstopper:

 

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Watanabei Angel (female) - LA seems to think it's a difficult species, but all the reading I found and people who own them seem to think that the only real problems are associated with decompression. Easy feeders, absolutely not coral nippers or aggressive at all, etc. As a Diver's Den selection, sounds like a good choice.

[FlowerMama]

great lookin' fish- love the black splotches on the face and the black accent lines on the fins- how big does it get?

[Rollermonkey]

Up to 6", according to LA.

Most likely this will be the biggest fish in the tank, but it's supposedly a pushover.

[Rollermonkey]

She is here, and she is in QT.

 

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I can't get over the coloration. These are no flash, ambient light only, no adjustments.

 

http://s179.photobucket.com/user/rollermonkey/media/P1000963_zps2a42d2f2.jpg.html'>

 

She spends most of her time so far looking at me.

 

http://s179.photobucket.com/user/rollermonkey/media/P1000970_zpsd14d4896.jpg.html'>

 

With a fish this size in 20G for QT, I can imagine that I'm going to have to stay on top of water changes a lot more than with the smaller ones.

[mpsti05]

Love the color!

[FlowerMama]

She's a beauty.

[Rollermonkey]

Took two weeks to show up, but pretty sure the angel has ich. I'm starting treatment today. I'm just glad I QT every fish, no matter what the source is, and thus caught it before she went into the DT.

[Rollermonkey]

The fantastic luck I've been having struck again today when the Watanabei angel died during ich treatment.

 

Oh, and the male from that bonded pair of Red Velvet Fairy Wrasse I had bought and was waiting to finish this QT before having them shipped died in the vendor's tank a week ago.

[Smithjm5]

The fantastic luck I've been having struck again today when the Watanabei angel died during ich treatment.

 

Oh, and the male from that bonded pair of Red Velvet Fairy Wrasse I had bought and was waiting to finish this QT before having them shipped died in the vendor's tank a week ago.

Awh that's awful! I'm sorry to hear that, that angel was gorgeous.

[FlowerMama]

aw, hate to hear the losses

[Rollermonkey]

I think it's time to hang it up. I've got ANOTHER leak somewhere, and I cannot find it. .